page_title: COVID-19 pandemic in Australia
section_title: March 2020
hierarchical_section_title: COVID-19 pandemic in Australia / Timeline / March 2020
caption_attribution_description: English: No Toilet Paper due to panic buying relating to the COVID-19 outbreak. Image taken in Adelaide's Northern Suburbs, March 2020.
context_page_description: The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The first confirmed case in Australia was identified on 25 January 2020, in Victoria, when a man who had returned from Wuhan, China, tested positive for the virus.
  Australian borders were closed to all non-residents on 20 March. Social distancing rules were imposed on 21 March, and state governments started to close 'non-essential' services. "Non-essential services" included social gathering venues such as pubs and clubs but unlike many other countries did not include most business operations such as construction, manufacturing and many retail categories.
  The number of new cases initially grew sharply, then levelled out at about 350 per day around 22 March, and started falling at the beginning of April to under 20 cases per day by the end of the month. A second wave of infections in Victoria, which was attributed to an outbreak at a Melbourne hotel, emerged during the period of May to June and is currently ongoing.
caption: The coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak resulted in panic buying (particularly of toilet paper), leading to empty shelves as seen here on 4 March 2020 in the Adelaide suburb of Paralowie, South Australia.
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